Korean Job Discussion Forums

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

You hit the nail on the head with that post! I used to translate, but I don't anymore. I got tired of the complaints when charging 50K-60K a page when, 'Koreans will do it for 20K a page!'. The only people that use me for translations now are production companies that are going to put out highly visible work (video/CD) that will impact a large organization's image. I only know one foreigner that translates regularly and professionally. He is amazing, and he is busy. Even most of the kyopos that I know won't bother with translating when there is so much other work out there that pays more and, at the same time, is much easier.

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

Hollywoodaction · Joined: 02 Jul 2004

out of context · Joined: 08 Jan 2006 Location: Daejeon

Going through this now. I was hired to proofread, but the English version I got was so terrible that I ended up concluding that it would be faster to re-translate the article from scratch than try to figure out the meaning.

It isn't just that they take the first word out of the dictionary when they translate. Because of the all the Chinese loanwords, Korean is loaded with homonyms. If you say ��, it could mean "engineer", "article", "knight" or "death by starvation". So they don't just take the first English word they find in the dictionary; they often also do it for the wrong Hanja word entirely. And I'm stuck with sentences like "The construction knights said that the project would take six months." (Well, a less grammatically accurate version of that, anyway.)

some waygug-in · Joined: 25 Jan 2003

You forgot to throw in a few irrelavant "relative clauses".

Something like, " The project, which is the one underway as we speak, which is how we can communicate, which is what we should do if we want to do business, has being commented on by the Construction Knights, which are those individuals contracted to work on the project, which is the one we are talking about, which is currently under way, which is in Korea which is the most reknowned for its prowess of the English idiom, which is the language in which we must conduct the project of which the knights have afforementioned, which is in the above commentary." Laughing

fusionbarnone · Joined: 31 May 2004

Make your friends your clients and give them a breakdown of your rates offering a 10% discount to friends(make your fees 10% higher without telling them).

Exploitation is rife; from kids who acost you on the street to practice English to the more sophisticated using techniques requesting free-privates, free editing, free whatever. This is one area where foreigners get a good dollop of their stress from because it almost feels like the whole country(Koreans) see self-interest and opportunity when "befriending" the waygook.

Quotation from a movie: Chinese boss outside club sees his caucasion doorman talking to his old buddy; Chinese Boss; Who's this jerk? Make him pay.

That's what you should do too. Either count your "extra" won or enjoy your "free" time.

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

The Bobster · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

Hollywoodaction · Joined: 02 Jul 2004

The Bobster · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

Hollywoodaction · Joined: 02 Jul 2004

The Bobster · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

Xerxes · Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2006 9:04 am Post subject:

I teach English composition to high school kids, and proofreading their English is the bane of my existence.

When I get tired, I grade really slow and anally so that I put in much more work than I really should. Because there is no end to the errors and the comments and corrections that you can make for the student essays, you have to give yourself an imaginary "quality" line from which to revise, or you'll never see the light of day.

Proofing high school essays is much better than proofing adult writing, which can have, as a few posters here have pointed out, many structural errors that simple proofing can't resolve, like too many stringy clauses/phrases, among many, many other errors. At least high school or college students use reasonable sentences with merely their verb buried in the back of a sentence, but finding a strong verb in adult writing is like finding Waldo.

If I see another "challenging mind" "one of the greatest scientist," "not only...but also," or "Through out the history of mankind," I will scream!!

Grading essays or proofing sucks the blood out of me and drains me so much that I automatically say no firmly to any idiot that asks for a freebie. I play mind games, run away, act suddenly deaf, whatever it takes to avoid the favor.

(I give an example of a "great" writer with a degree from GOD University who also did a renowned sabbatical at H University and how he wrote, in reality, very poorly. I then cite some examples of how he was almost dismissed from his post before he came to me. All of this story mostly true. The favor-asking bloke is so academically brow beaten that they just nod and slink away. Koreans have the biggest egos and they are most easily bruised or challenged).

I don't even do it for money anymore, unless it's for someone I know AND they give me a great rate. I prefer to rest more and earn less rather than do that line of work. (Ok, we do get spoiled here getting paid buckets for doing work that is much easier than translating, as some one has posted, but that's my choice!!)

I also hate it when a student gives crap writing and the mommy gives a crap load and I am expected to ghost write. I refuse to go over the (grey) line, but having been in the Congo for more than 10 years now, I forget what grey is anymore.

"The horror! The horror!"